1. Field
The present invention relates generally to readers for magnetic storage media, and more particularly to readers for magnetic tape data storage media.
2. Description of Related Art
In one related art field, tape with magnetic particles impressed thereon is used as a data storage medium. Tape may be nominally about one half inch wide. Tape typically has a base layer formed from polymers that are flexible and subject to dimensional distortion and instability, including changes in width of the tape. Tracks of data may be recorded on the media (e.g., approximately longitudinally along the length of the media or portions of the length of the media). In additional to some amount of room for the magnetic domains used for recording each data bit along each track, tape includes separation between magnetic domains of adjacent tracks to prevent interference between tracks. Distance between tracks, including the domains and the separation space, is called track pitch. Track pitch may be less than 10 microns. Tracks may be spaced across a good portion of the entire width of the tape. Thus, there are usually a number of tracks on a given tape and considerable non-data bearing space between simultaneously-written tracks on the tape. Later passes of the tape with adjusted head position will use those regions for additional data tracks.
To enhance data throughput, it is desirable to have readers for magnetic tape that read a plurality of tracks simultaneously. One option for reading a plurality of tracks would be to build readers having multiple individually formed read elements spread out in a row across a portion of the width of the tape (see FIGS. 1A-B). Read elements of such a multiple track reader would interfere with each other if placed too closely, and therefore would be separated across some portion of the width of the tape to minimize this interference. This spacing results in readers that read separated tracks, which increases the sensitivity to the negative effects of dimensional distortion, including difficulty in tracking all the tracks (keeping each read element over its intended track) as the tape moves past the reader. Therefore, a solution to minimize negative effects of dimensional distortion while maintaining data throughput is desirable.